Not just Shaq, really, but the era of the big man in the NBA? Could it be that the Bulls, in their quest to build a championship team despite their inability to obtain a scoring big man, have stumbled upon the new formula for success in the NBA?

Just beat 'em down the lane, outquick 'em, and when they get the ball, get in their way and fall down.

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Seems a little premature. The Bulls have won a home playoff game. Whoopity doo.

Not after O'Neal was disqualified from a game in large part because his Bulls counterpart drew two questionable fouls against him with a bit of theatrics.

So when O'Neal was asked if this year's Bulls are any different with Wallace manning the middle, he insisted the big man has made little impact.

''Same team. Same team,'' O'Neal said. ``They play fast, they play hard, a lot of flopping, a lot of messing around. Same team.''

Maybe O'Neal doesn't want to see it, but it's hard not to notice the Wallace impact on this year's version of the Chicago Bulls.

The former Piston's domination of the glass on both ends of the floor is a major reason the Heat is 1-4 against the Bulls this season. And his board work was especially critical down the stretch of Game 1 on Saturday.

When the Heat closed to within a point in the final minute, it was Wallace's tip to Luol Deng that allowed the Bulls to gain possession and force the Heat to foul and put Ben Gordon on the line.

''Not only did he tip it, he tipped it left-handed and knowingly right to a teammate,'' Bulls coach Scott Skiles said of Wallace's big play. ``One of the strengths of Ben is generating possessions for the team. It's one of the reasons we've scored more points this year.''

Wow--Nocioni with 7 points in the last 10 seconds of the first quarter! That was big.

Deng has been awful so far, but Gordon and Hinrich have been hitting, and the Bulls are hustling well on both ends. Defense on Shaq and Wade has been pretty good; Heat scoring has been balanced, but no single player has really been able to get going for them yet.

Actually I thought that Zo block on the Tyrus dunk attempt was clean. Zo was doing a nice job on both ends, before dropping passes out of bounds on two consecutive possessions.

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The block was clean, but you don't get to lay a guy out on the follow through, just because you hit the ball first. Zo clearly forearmed the guy across the face/neck after the block.

That's like players who argue that they shouldn't be called for a foul because a guy doesn't have the ball or that they can run a guy over after he's shot the ball. It's the equivalent of a loose ball or off the ball foul.

I think I am going to go with the Bulls now. Be nice to get another crack at Miami but its been 2 years straight already. We got them, they got us. Shaq is getting old.

Pistons have been beating up on the Bulls in the reg season since the Jordan days but we are yet to face them in the playoffs since that disaster in 1991. They are kind of cocky anyway about the 3 seasonal wins so that would be a fun series. Send Ben home early. Show the Bulls that its not breaking any rules to have a center that is actually capable of making shots and hitting FT's.